Moviegoing Memories is a series of short interviews with filmmakers about going to the movies. Terence Davies’ Benediction is Mubi Go's Film of the Week in the United Kingdom and Ireland for May 20, 2022. Notebook: How would you describe your movie in the least amount of words?Terence Davies: A journey toward redemption. Notebook: Where and what is your favorite movie theater? Why is it your favorite?Davies: It was called the Hippodrome in Liverpool, long since pulled down. It was Hengler’s Music Hall before that and in fact when I went there, the boxes were still there and there were gods. When it was a music hall, when Siegfried Sassoon was in Litherland, he went there several times to see some shows.Notebook: What is the most memorable movie screening of your life? Why is it memorable?Davies: My very first film at seven, I was taken to see Singin' in the Rain.
- 5/17/2022
- MUBI
Cannes Classics
Mark Cousins‘ documentary “The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas,” following the legendary “The Last Emperor” and “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” producer’s annual drive to Cannes, will be the pre-opener at the Cannes Classics selection this year.
Restored titles this year include “Friendship’s Death” by Peter Wollen, starring Tilda Swinton; “F For Fake” by Orson Welles; “Mulholland Drive” by David Lynch (2001 U.S.); “I Know Where I’m Going!” by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger; and “The Double Life Of Véronique by Krzysztof Kieślowski”.
The section will also celebrate the work of actor/director Bill Duke with a screening of “The Killing Floor” (1985); Japanese actor and filmmaker Kinuyo Tanaka’s “Tsuki Wa Noborinu”; Spanish actor and filmmaker Ana Marisca’s “El Camino” from 1964; French maven Marcel Camus’ “Orfeu Negro” and Italian master Roberto Rossellini’s “Francesco, Giullare Di Dio”.
Oscar Micheaux, the first African-American director in the history of U.
Mark Cousins‘ documentary “The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas,” following the legendary “The Last Emperor” and “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” producer’s annual drive to Cannes, will be the pre-opener at the Cannes Classics selection this year.
Restored titles this year include “Friendship’s Death” by Peter Wollen, starring Tilda Swinton; “F For Fake” by Orson Welles; “Mulholland Drive” by David Lynch (2001 U.S.); “I Know Where I’m Going!” by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger; and “The Double Life Of Véronique by Krzysztof Kieślowski”.
The section will also celebrate the work of actor/director Bill Duke with a screening of “The Killing Floor” (1985); Japanese actor and filmmaker Kinuyo Tanaka’s “Tsuki Wa Noborinu”; Spanish actor and filmmaker Ana Marisca’s “El Camino” from 1964; French maven Marcel Camus’ “Orfeu Negro” and Italian master Roberto Rossellini’s “Francesco, Giullare Di Dio”.
Oscar Micheaux, the first African-American director in the history of U.
- 6/24/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The Cannes Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its 2021 Cannes Classics section. Made up of a selection of restored prints, the roster also includes new documentaries that explore the history of cinema. Among the offerings is Mark Cousins’ pre-opening doc, The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas, which covers a yearly drive with the British producer from London to Cannes. Cousins and Thomas will be in town for the presentation. (Scroll down for the full Cannes Classics list.)
Restored titles include David Lynch’s 2001 Mulholland Drive; 1945’s I Know Where I’m Going! by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger; Krzysztof Kieślowski’s 1991 drama The Double Life Of Véronique; Orson Welles’ F For Fake from 1973; and Friendship’s Death by Peter Wollen which features Tilda Swinton’s first role.
Among the special events are a tribute to director and actor Bill Duke who will present his 1985 The Killing Floor which premiered at Critics...
Restored titles include David Lynch’s 2001 Mulholland Drive; 1945’s I Know Where I’m Going! by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger; Krzysztof Kieślowski’s 1991 drama The Double Life Of Véronique; Orson Welles’ F For Fake from 1973; and Friendship’s Death by Peter Wollen which features Tilda Swinton’s first role.
Among the special events are a tribute to director and actor Bill Duke who will present his 1985 The Killing Floor which premiered at Critics...
- 6/23/2021
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Tilda Swinton to attend restored screening of Peter Wollen’s 1987 UK film Friendship’s Death.
Two documentaries from Mark Cousins and restored films from Kinuyo Tanaka, Oscar Micheaux, and Orson Welles will screen in Cannes Classics, announced on Wednesday (June 23).
Cousins’ The Story Of Film: A New Generation and The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas, a profile of the celebrated British producer, are among a documentary line-up that incudes Buñuel, Un Cineasta Surrealista from Javier Espada, and All About Yves Montand by Yves Jeuland.
The roster of restored narrative films includes David Lynch’s 2001 Mulholland Drive, Japanese actor-filmmaker Kinuyo Tanaka’s (pictured) The Moon Has Risen,...
Two documentaries from Mark Cousins and restored films from Kinuyo Tanaka, Oscar Micheaux, and Orson Welles will screen in Cannes Classics, announced on Wednesday (June 23).
Cousins’ The Story Of Film: A New Generation and The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas, a profile of the celebrated British producer, are among a documentary line-up that incudes Buñuel, Un Cineasta Surrealista from Javier Espada, and All About Yves Montand by Yves Jeuland.
The roster of restored narrative films includes David Lynch’s 2001 Mulholland Drive, Japanese actor-filmmaker Kinuyo Tanaka’s (pictured) The Moon Has Risen,...
- 6/23/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Frunze Dovlatyan’s breezy, strange and intriguing 1966 drama gets a deserved rerelease
This intriguing and mysterious romantic drama from 1966 is directed by Armenian film-maker Frunze Dovlatyan; it was entered into competition at Cannes that year and is now rereleased. Hello, It’s Me! often has that kind of freewheeling breeziness that you might associate with the 60s; at other times, I found myself thinking of Max Ophüls’s Letter from an Unknown Woman.
The distinguished Armenian stage and screen actor Armen Dzhigarkhanyan plays a fictional young scientist called Artyom, based on the real-life figure of Artem Alikhanian, who during the second world war became one of the pioneers of Soviet nuclear physics.
This intriguing and mysterious romantic drama from 1966 is directed by Armenian film-maker Frunze Dovlatyan; it was entered into competition at Cannes that year and is now rereleased. Hello, It’s Me! often has that kind of freewheeling breeziness that you might associate with the 60s; at other times, I found myself thinking of Max Ophüls’s Letter from an Unknown Woman.
The distinguished Armenian stage and screen actor Armen Dzhigarkhanyan plays a fictional young scientist called Artyom, based on the real-life figure of Artem Alikhanian, who during the second world war became one of the pioneers of Soviet nuclear physics.
- 5/24/2021
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
One of the previous decade’s great cinematic was receiving back-to-back Terence Davies films with Sunset Song and A Quiet Passion. Now it looks like a repeat is in store as the director is prepping another production just after finishing his last. Following a pandemic-related delay, he recently wrapped the Jack Lowden-led biopic Benediction, about World War I poet Siegfried Sassoon, and now has announced plans for what he’ll direct next.
Davies will write and helm an adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s novel The Post Office Girl, published posthumously in 1982. One of Wes Anderson’s inspirations for The Grand Budapest Hotel, the book is set in post-wwi and follows a female post-office clerk who lives outside Vienna. “Stefan Zweig’s novel set in post-war Austria sows the seeds for the rise of fascism, the end of the Empire, and ultimately the Second World War. This is a story...
Davies will write and helm an adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s novel The Post Office Girl, published posthumously in 1982. One of Wes Anderson’s inspirations for The Grand Budapest Hotel, the book is set in post-wwi and follows a female post-office clerk who lives outside Vienna. “Stefan Zweig’s novel set in post-war Austria sows the seeds for the rise of fascism, the end of the Empire, and ultimately the Second World War. This is a story...
- 1/20/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
One of Max Ophüls’ best American movies is this razor-sharp ‘domestic film noir’ with excellent acting and a premise that was probably too sordid-real for 1949: cheap crooks blackmail an ordinary housewife trying to protect her family. Joan Bennett confronts the crisis head-on, facing down James Mason’s unusually sympathetic ‘collector.’
The Reckless Moment
Region free Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1949 / B&W / 1:37 full frame Academy / 82 min. / / Street Date April 22, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £17.00
Starring: James Mason, Joan Bennett, Geraldine Brooks, Henry O’Neill, Shepperd Strudwick, David Bair, Roy Roberts, William Schallert.
Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Film Editor: Gene Havlick
Original Music: Hans Salter
Written by Henry Garson, Robert Soderberg; Mel Dinelli, Robert E. Kent, from a story by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding
Produced by Walter Wanger
Directed by Max Ophüls
Nobody forgets Joan Bennett’s film noir appearances — she has a dark, moody quality that even Dario Argento appreciated. In The Woman in the Window...
The Reckless Moment
Region free Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1949 / B&W / 1:37 full frame Academy / 82 min. / / Street Date April 22, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £17.00
Starring: James Mason, Joan Bennett, Geraldine Brooks, Henry O’Neill, Shepperd Strudwick, David Bair, Roy Roberts, William Schallert.
Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Film Editor: Gene Havlick
Original Music: Hans Salter
Written by Henry Garson, Robert Soderberg; Mel Dinelli, Robert E. Kent, from a story by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding
Produced by Walter Wanger
Directed by Max Ophüls
Nobody forgets Joan Bennett’s film noir appearances — she has a dark, moody quality that even Dario Argento appreciated. In The Woman in the Window...
- 4/13/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This week’s edition of Tuesday Blus includes the following titles: Dunkirk (2017) – Warner Bros., Detroit (2017) – Twentieth Century Fox, Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) – Olive Film, Jd’s Revenge (1976) – Arrow Video, Dolores Claiborne (1995) – Warner Bros.
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- 12/19/2017
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Within the first ten minutes of Nicholas Ray’s unimpeachable classic Rebel Without a Cause Jim Stark (James Dean) wails, “You’re tearing me apart!!!!!” This is not an instance where the film crescendos with an emotional breakdown, but begins. Jim Stark is a staggering portrait of apocalyptic masculine adolescence ripping apart a young body through expectations put on him by society and his own self-imposed fears that he could turn into his passive father. Jim Stark is one of the defining characters of cinematic melodrama with his unbridled emotional honesty laid bare for the world to see. He physically cannot keep himself from gnashing, wailing, and screaming in the face of emotions that bubble to the surface. Melodrama opens the lid on these reactions and rides that feeling to cinematic honesty and authenticity. Melodrama is realer than real; a hyper-stylized evocation of feelings that we’re all familiar with as human beings.
- 12/16/2017
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Film Society of Lincoln Center
If you’re emotionally prepared, the massive 62-film series “Emotion Pictures: International Melodrama” has begun featuring In the Mood for Love, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Letter from an Unknown Woman, The Housemaid, and more this weekend.
Museum of Modern Art
An all-inclusive Michelangelo Antonioni retrospective is still underway.
Metrograph
“Goth...
Film Society of Lincoln Center
If you’re emotionally prepared, the massive 62-film series “Emotion Pictures: International Melodrama” has begun featuring In the Mood for Love, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Letter from an Unknown Woman, The Housemaid, and more this weekend.
Museum of Modern Art
An all-inclusive Michelangelo Antonioni retrospective is still underway.
Metrograph
“Goth...
- 12/15/2017
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
This devastating romantic melodrama is Max Ophüls’ best American picture — perhaps because it seems so European? It’s probably Joan Fontaine’s finest hour as well, and Louis Jourdan comes across as a great actor in a part perfect for his screen personality. The theme could be called, ‘No regrets,’ but also, ‘Everything is to be regretted.’
Letter from an Unknown Woman
Blu-ray
Olive Signature
1948 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 87 min. / Street Date December 5, 2017 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98
Starring: Joan Fontaine, Louis Jourdan, Mady Christians, Marcel Journet, Art Smith, Carol Yorke, Howard Freeman, John Good, Leo B. Pessin, Erskine Sanford, Otto Waldis, Sonja Bryden.
Cinematography: Franz Planer
Film Editor: Ted J. Kent
Original Music: Daniele Amfitheatrof
Written by Howard Koch from a story by Stefan Zweig
Produced by John Houseman
Directed by Max Ophüls
A young woman’s romantic nature goes beyond all limits, probing the nature of True Love.
Letter from an Unknown Woman
Blu-ray
Olive Signature
1948 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 87 min. / Street Date December 5, 2017 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98
Starring: Joan Fontaine, Louis Jourdan, Mady Christians, Marcel Journet, Art Smith, Carol Yorke, Howard Freeman, John Good, Leo B. Pessin, Erskine Sanford, Otto Waldis, Sonja Bryden.
Cinematography: Franz Planer
Film Editor: Ted J. Kent
Original Music: Daniele Amfitheatrof
Written by Howard Koch from a story by Stefan Zweig
Produced by John Houseman
Directed by Max Ophüls
A young woman’s romantic nature goes beyond all limits, probing the nature of True Love.
- 12/12/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In the late 1970s, an associate professor in the Philosophy department at Johns Hopkins (thesis title: "The Nature of the Natural Numbers") began publishing essays on Hollywood movies. George M. Wilson wasn't the first person to undergo this shift in specialism. At the start of the decade, Stanley Cavell had published The World Viewed, a series of "reflections on the ontology of film." But Cavell had always been concerned with how works of art enable us to think through philosophical themes such as knowledge and meaning, and he held a chair, at Harvard, in Aesthetics. Wilson differed in that he brought a range of analytic gifts to an ongoing revolution: the close reading of American cinema, conceived as part of the "auteur" policy of Truffaut and other writers at Cahiers du cinéma in the 1950s, and concertedly developed in the following decades by critics in England such as V. F.
- 12/11/2017
- MUBI
Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Metrograph
Lynch, Hitchcock, Bride of Frankenstein and more come together in “Goth(ic).”
Letter from an Unknown Woman and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg also screen.
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Rossellini, Murnau, Warhol, Pialat and more screen as part of “The Non-Actor.”
Film Forum
The Passion of Joan of Arc has its final days
One of Murnau’s greatest films,...
Metrograph
Lynch, Hitchcock, Bride of Frankenstein and more come together in “Goth(ic).”
Letter from an Unknown Woman and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg also screen.
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Rossellini, Murnau, Warhol, Pialat and more screen as part of “The Non-Actor.”
Film Forum
The Passion of Joan of Arc has its final days
One of Murnau’s greatest films,...
- 12/1/2017
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Born 1917, as Jean-Pierre Grumbach, son of Alsatian Jews, Jean-Pierre adopted the name Melville as his nom de guerre in 1940 when France fell to the German Nazis and he joined the French Resistance. He kept it as his stage name when he returned to France and began making films.
Melville at 100 at the American Cinematheque in Hollywood is showcasing eight of his films made from 1949 to to 1972 to honor the 100th year since his birth.
Americn Cinemtheque’s historic Egyptian Theater in Hollywood
The American Cinematheque has grown tremendously sophisticated since its early days creating the 1960 dream of “The Two Garys” (for those who remember). Still staffed by stalwarts Barbara Smith, Gwen Deglise, Margot Gerber and Tom Harris, and with a Board of Directors of Hollywood heavy hitters, it has also been renovated by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association which has spent more than $500,000 restoring its infrastructure and repainting its famous murals.
Melville at 100 at the American Cinematheque in Hollywood is showcasing eight of his films made from 1949 to to 1972 to honor the 100th year since his birth.
Americn Cinemtheque’s historic Egyptian Theater in Hollywood
The American Cinematheque has grown tremendously sophisticated since its early days creating the 1960 dream of “The Two Garys” (for those who remember). Still staffed by stalwarts Barbara Smith, Gwen Deglise, Margot Gerber and Tom Harris, and with a Board of Directors of Hollywood heavy hitters, it has also been renovated by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association which has spent more than $500,000 restoring its infrastructure and repainting its famous murals.
- 8/7/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Stars: Paula Beer, Pierre Niney, Ernst Stötzner, Marie Gruber, Anton von Lucke | Written by François Ozon, Philippe Piazzo | Directed by François Ozon
A remake of Ernst Lubitsch’s 1932 film Broken Lullaby, itself based on a stage play, Frantz is the latest character-based drama from prolific French director François Ozon. Deeply melancholy and very moving, it’s a proper old school tearjerker, and more accessible than its austere monochrome aesthetic might imply.
1919. Widowed Anna (Paula Beer) lives in Quedlinberg with the Hoffmeisters, the parents of her late husband, Frantz, who was killed in battle the previous year. One day Anna visits Frantz’s grave and finds fresh flowers. The flowers were laid by a visiting Frenchman named Adrien (Pierre Niney). He says he knew Frantz.
The Hoffmeisters tentatively welcome Adrien into their home. Mrs Hoffmeister (Marie Gruber) and Anna are keen to establish a posthumous emotional connection with Frantz via Adrien.
A remake of Ernst Lubitsch’s 1932 film Broken Lullaby, itself based on a stage play, Frantz is the latest character-based drama from prolific French director François Ozon. Deeply melancholy and very moving, it’s a proper old school tearjerker, and more accessible than its austere monochrome aesthetic might imply.
1919. Widowed Anna (Paula Beer) lives in Quedlinberg with the Hoffmeisters, the parents of her late husband, Frantz, who was killed in battle the previous year. One day Anna visits Frantz’s grave and finds fresh flowers. The flowers were laid by a visiting Frenchman named Adrien (Pierre Niney). He says he knew Frantz.
The Hoffmeisters tentatively welcome Adrien into their home. Mrs Hoffmeister (Marie Gruber) and Anna are keen to establish a posthumous emotional connection with Frantz via Adrien.
- 7/20/2017
- by Rupert Harvey
- Nerdly
Crime novel The Blank Wall by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. While her husband is away during World War II, housewife Lucia Holley – the sort of “Everywoman” who looks great in a two-piece bathing suit – does whatever it takes to protect the feeling of “normality” in her bourgeois, suburban household. The Blank Wall is a classic depiction of an attempted cover-up being much more serious than the actual crime. Sound bites: Remembering the classic crime novel 'The Blank Wall' and its two movie adaptations – 'The Reckless Moment' & 'The Deep End' Crime novel writer Elisabeth Sanxay Holding (1889–1955) is not a name familiar to many, and yet Raymond Chandler described her as “the top suspense writer of them all. She doesn't pour it on and make you feel irritated. Her characters are wonderful; and she has a sort of inner calm which I find very attractive.” Holding has been identified as “The Godmother of Noir” and, more...
- 7/17/2017
- by Anthony Slide
- Alt Film Guide
Opening in L.A. and other cities June 16, “Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe” is a stylishly accomplished and intellectually well thought out character study of a man who was the most popular author in the world in the 1920s and 1930s and who, today, is nearly forgotten. Told through six windows of 20 minutes each, this unique storytelling technique gives the film an immediacy as each part of Stefan Zweig’s life plays out in real time.
Stefan Zweig’s books have been made into 23 movies around the world, including his novel, Letter from an Unknown Woman, which was adapted to the screen in 1948 by Max Ophüls and starred Joan Fontaine and Louis Jourdain. His writings have also inspired Wes Anderson’s “Grand Budapest Hotel”.
Having just read his memoir, The World of Yesterday and having been on my own private search for what it means to have to leave your...
Stefan Zweig’s books have been made into 23 movies around the world, including his novel, Letter from an Unknown Woman, which was adapted to the screen in 1948 by Max Ophüls and starred Joan Fontaine and Louis Jourdain. His writings have also inspired Wes Anderson’s “Grand Budapest Hotel”.
Having just read his memoir, The World of Yesterday and having been on my own private search for what it means to have to leave your...
- 6/14/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Premiering at last year’s Berlin International Film Festival to rave reviews (including our own), Terence Davies’ A Quiet Passion tackles the life and work of America’s premier lady of letters, Emily Dickinson. Starring Cynthia Nixon as Dickinson, the drama pulsates with repressed creativity and bridled vitality, textured by Davies’s painterly, atmospheric touches that capture those aspects as well as the distinct domesticity of the Dickinson household. At last year’s New York Film Festival, I was able to sit down with highly esteemed British filmmaker and discuss what drew him to Emily Dickinson, the cruelty of talent being unrecognized within their lifetimes, and films that inspired him: William Wyler’s The Heiress and Max Ophüls’ Letter from an Unknown Woman. With the film now opening in limited release this Friday, read our full conversation below.
The Film Stage: What drew you to making this, not typical, biopic of Emily Dickinson’s life?...
The Film Stage: What drew you to making this, not typical, biopic of Emily Dickinson’s life?...
- 4/12/2017
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
There’s plenty of Sin in Walerian Boroczyk’s searing movie, but little of it can be laid at the feet of its heroine, no matter what terrible crimes she commits. In pre-WW1 Poland, the innocent Ewa’s tragedy is to fall hopelessly in love, without restraint; Boroczyk’s camera doesn’t flinch as the hapless Ewa falls from grace. Amour fou has been crazier than this, but rarely as destructive. Artistically this show is flawless, and in terms of sex politics it’s a scream of protest.
Story of Sin
Blu-ray + DVD
Arrow Academy USA
1975 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 130 min. / Dzieje grzechu / Street Date March 28, 2017 / Available from Arrow Video / 39.95
Starring: Grazyna Dlugolecka, Jerzy Zelnik, Olgierd Lukaszewicz, Roman Wilhelmi, Marek Walczewski, Karolina Lubienska, Zdzislaw Mrozewski, Mieczyslaw Voit, Marek Bargielowski.
Cinematography: Zygmunt Samosiuk
Film Editor: Lidia Pacewicz
Written by Walerian Borowczyk from the novel by Stefan Zeromski
Directed by Walerian Borowczyk
Walerian Borowczyk...
Story of Sin
Blu-ray + DVD
Arrow Academy USA
1975 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 130 min. / Dzieje grzechu / Street Date March 28, 2017 / Available from Arrow Video / 39.95
Starring: Grazyna Dlugolecka, Jerzy Zelnik, Olgierd Lukaszewicz, Roman Wilhelmi, Marek Walczewski, Karolina Lubienska, Zdzislaw Mrozewski, Mieczyslaw Voit, Marek Bargielowski.
Cinematography: Zygmunt Samosiuk
Film Editor: Lidia Pacewicz
Written by Walerian Borowczyk from the novel by Stefan Zeromski
Directed by Walerian Borowczyk
Walerian Borowczyk...
- 4/4/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Same stereotypes, different name.
If you look at the shining beacon of humanity that is Urban Dictionary, you will find fanboy defined as “a passionate fan of various elements of geek culture (e.g. sci-fi, comics, Star Wars, video games, anime, hobbits, Magic: the Gathering, etc.), but who lets his passion override social graces.”
What about fangirl? “A rabid breed of human female who is obsessed with either a fictional character or an actor.”
While the former isn’t exactly an endorsement, the latter is a whole different category of harsh — and might have well been ripped from a newspaper written a hundred years ago. Because despite what this 2009 Today article or this 2012 Time article would suggest, calling women the “new” face of fandom is inaccurate. They’ve been there all along. The movie fangirl stereotype is almost as old as the movies — certainly older than their fanboy counterpart. As described by Diana Anselmo-Sequeira in her...
If you look at the shining beacon of humanity that is Urban Dictionary, you will find fanboy defined as “a passionate fan of various elements of geek culture (e.g. sci-fi, comics, Star Wars, video games, anime, hobbits, Magic: the Gathering, etc.), but who lets his passion override social graces.”
What about fangirl? “A rabid breed of human female who is obsessed with either a fictional character or an actor.”
While the former isn’t exactly an endorsement, the latter is a whole different category of harsh — and might have well been ripped from a newspaper written a hundred years ago. Because despite what this 2009 Today article or this 2012 Time article would suggest, calling women the “new” face of fandom is inaccurate. They’ve been there all along. The movie fangirl stereotype is almost as old as the movies — certainly older than their fanboy counterpart. As described by Diana Anselmo-Sequeira in her...
- 3/31/2017
- by Ciara Wardlow
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Love in the Afternoon
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1957 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 130 min. / Street Date February 7, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier, John McGiver, Van Doude, Lise Bourdin, Louis Jourdan, Betty Schneider.
Cinematography: William C. Mellor
Film Editor: Leonid Azar
Art Direction: Alexandre Trauner
Adapted Music: Franz Waxman
Written by: Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond from a novel by Claude Anet
Produced and Directed by Billy Wilder
A favorite of Billy Wilder-philes, Love in the Afternoon is a strong expression of the ‘romantic-Lubitsch’ vein in Wilder’s work. It’s essentially a return to the early ’30s Lubitsch comedies with Maurice Chevalier, but played in a more bittersweet Viennese register. It’s also Wilder’s first collaboration with the comedy screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond. Together they fashion the predominantly verbal comedy machine that will carry them through three or four big hits, and a few losers that have become classics anyway.
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1957 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 130 min. / Street Date February 7, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier, John McGiver, Van Doude, Lise Bourdin, Louis Jourdan, Betty Schneider.
Cinematography: William C. Mellor
Film Editor: Leonid Azar
Art Direction: Alexandre Trauner
Adapted Music: Franz Waxman
Written by: Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond from a novel by Claude Anet
Produced and Directed by Billy Wilder
A favorite of Billy Wilder-philes, Love in the Afternoon is a strong expression of the ‘romantic-Lubitsch’ vein in Wilder’s work. It’s essentially a return to the early ’30s Lubitsch comedies with Maurice Chevalier, but played in a more bittersweet Viennese register. It’s also Wilder’s first collaboration with the comedy screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond. Together they fashion the predominantly verbal comedy machine that will carry them through three or four big hits, and a few losers that have become classics anyway.
- 1/31/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Stefan Zweig (Josef Hader) - "He was considered one of the greatest travelers, the big European mastermind of the European Union."
In 2000, Max Färberböck's Aimée & Jaguar star Maria Schrader was on the Berlin Film Festival jury with Andrzej Wajda, Gong Li, Walter Salles, and Marisa Paredes when Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia won the Golden Bear and the number of translators had an impact on her. In New York, the director of Stefan Zweig: Farewell To Europe and I discussed her creative team, including co-writer Jan Schomburg, cinematographer Wolfgang Thaler, and editor Hansjörg Weißbrich. We followed a Zweig trail from Terence Davies on Max Ophüls' Letter From An Unknown Woman to George Prochnik's influence on Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel to Varian Fry, Lion Feuchtwanger and Defying The Nazis: The Sharp's War, directed by Ken Burns and Artemis Joukowsky.
Maria Schrader: "I dedicated the movie to Denis Poncet.
In 2000, Max Färberböck's Aimée & Jaguar star Maria Schrader was on the Berlin Film Festival jury with Andrzej Wajda, Gong Li, Walter Salles, and Marisa Paredes when Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia won the Golden Bear and the number of translators had an impact on her. In New York, the director of Stefan Zweig: Farewell To Europe and I discussed her creative team, including co-writer Jan Schomburg, cinematographer Wolfgang Thaler, and editor Hansjörg Weißbrich. We followed a Zweig trail from Terence Davies on Max Ophüls' Letter From An Unknown Woman to George Prochnik's influence on Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel to Varian Fry, Lion Feuchtwanger and Defying The Nazis: The Sharp's War, directed by Ken Burns and Artemis Joukowsky.
Maria Schrader: "I dedicated the movie to Denis Poncet.
- 1/20/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Episode Links Past Wish List Episodes Episode 63.9 – Disc 3 – Top Criterion Blu-ray Upgrades for 2011 Episode 110 – Criterion Collection Blu-ray Upgrade Wish List for 2012 Episode 136 – Criterion Collection Blu-ray Upgrade Wish List for 2013 Episode 146 – Criterion Collection Blu-ray Upgrade Wish List for 2014 Episode 154 – Criterion Collection Blu-ray Upgrade Wish List for 2015 Episode 169 – Criterion Collection Blu-ray Upgrade Wish List for 2016 DVD to BluRay Wish Lists Aaron: The Shop on Main Street Pickup on South Street Arik: Cleo from 5 to 7 Berlin Alexanderplatz Mark: Taste of Cherry Sisters David: Do the Right Thing Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters Ld to Blu-Ray Wish Lists Aaron: Blue Velvet (Announced as Ld Spine #219 but never released) Early Hitchcock Box (Sabotage, The Secret Agent, Young and Innocent, The Lodger, The Man Who Knew Too Much) Arik: A Night at the Opera Singin’ in the Rain Mark: 2001: A Space Odyssey The Producers David: I Am Cuba Letter From an Unknown Woman...
- 12/30/2016
- by David Blakeslee
- CriterionCast
Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Metrograph
Alfred Hitchcock and Cary Grant‘s collaborations are highlighted in a series that brings Notorious, Suspicion, and To Catch a Thief on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, respectively.
Prints of Max Ophüls‘ Letter from an Unknown Woman and Alan Arkin‘s Little Murders play on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
A print of James and the Giant Peach...
Metrograph
Alfred Hitchcock and Cary Grant‘s collaborations are highlighted in a series that brings Notorious, Suspicion, and To Catch a Thief on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, respectively.
Prints of Max Ophüls‘ Letter from an Unknown Woman and Alan Arkin‘s Little Murders play on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
A print of James and the Giant Peach...
- 8/18/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
A woman recalls the pivotal moments of her adult life in Julieta, the latest film from Pedro Almodóvar and his fifth to screen in competition here in Cannes. It’s adapted from a series of short stories of Canadian Nobel prize-winning author Alice Munro and marks a return to the female-centric dramas with which the director made his name, having recently tried his hand at musical (I’m So Excited) and psychological horror (The Skin I Live In). It’s charmingly self-aware in its use of kitsch and melodrama — almost to the point of self-parody — and, while small in scope, it’s also one of his lusher and leaner offerings.
We open on blood red silk and yellow titles, a characteristically strong visual language we’ll gorge on for the rest of the movie. We find the titular woman (played here by Emma Suárez) packing up her worldly belongings. We...
We open on blood red silk and yellow titles, a characteristically strong visual language we’ll gorge on for the rest of the movie. We find the titular woman (played here by Emma Suárez) packing up her worldly belongings. We...
- 5/17/2016
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
What better way to reach episode fifty than to be joined by one of the most foremost and respected film critics and theorists of her generation, to discuss Max Ophuls’ La signora di tutti we are honored to have Laura Mulvey join us. We hope you enjoy!
From Masters of Cinema:
With the Nazi terror on the ascent, master filmmaker Max Ophuls fled to Italy in 1934 and made La signora di tutti [Everybody’s Lady] — an exuberant, desperate melodrama that, although arriving early in Ophuls’ body of work, ranks comfortably alongside Letter from an Unknown Woman, Madame de…, or Lola Montès in the hierarchy of the director’s achievements.
Isa Miranda, one of Italy’s greatest stars, plays the role of a star revisiting her life in flashback after a suicide attempt leaves her comatose. From the record revolving on a turntable in the picture’s opening moments, Ophuls sets into motion one...
From Masters of Cinema:
With the Nazi terror on the ascent, master filmmaker Max Ophuls fled to Italy in 1934 and made La signora di tutti [Everybody’s Lady] — an exuberant, desperate melodrama that, although arriving early in Ophuls’ body of work, ranks comfortably alongside Letter from an Unknown Woman, Madame de…, or Lola Montès in the hierarchy of the director’s achievements.
Isa Miranda, one of Italy’s greatest stars, plays the role of a star revisiting her life in flashback after a suicide attempt leaves her comatose. From the record revolving on a turntable in the picture’s opening moments, Ophuls sets into motion one...
- 3/24/2016
- by Tom Jennings
- CriterionCast
Ann-Margret movies: From sex kitten to two-time Oscar nominee. Ann-Margret: 'Carnal Knowledge' and 'Tommy' proved that 'sex symbol' was a remarkable actress Ann-Margret, the '60s star who went from sex kitten to respected actress and two-time Oscar nominee, is Turner Classic Movies' star today, Aug. 13, '15. As part of its “Summer Under the Stars” series, TCM is showing this evening the movies that earned Ann-Margret her Academy Award nods: Mike Nichols' Carnal Knowledge (1971) and Ken Russell's Tommy (1975). Written by Jules Feiffer, and starring Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel, the downbeat – some have found it misogynistic; others have praised it for presenting American men as chauvinistic pigs – Carnal Knowledge is one of the precursors of “adult Hollywood moviemaking,” a rare species that, propelled by the success of disparate arthouse fare such as Vilgot Sjöman's I Am Curious (Yellow) and Costa-Gavras' Z, briefly flourished from...
- 8/14/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
First off, let's make one thing clear. We're not scratching our heads at Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing" making the BBC's 100 greatest American films. That movie, of which an image accompanies this post, not only made the list, but ranked appropriately at no. 25. It's the rest of the selections that have us scratching and, yes, shaking our heads in disbelief. A wonderful page view driver, these sorts of lists make great fodder for passionate movie fans no matter what their age or part of the world they hail from. There is nothing more entertaining than watching two critics from opposite ends of the globe try to debate whether "The Dark Knight" should have been nominated for best picture or make a list like this. Even in this age of short form content where Vines, Shapchats and Instagram videos have captured viewers attention, movies will continue to inspire because...
- 7/22/2015
- by Gregory Ellwood
- Hitfix
Leave it to the Brits to compile a list of the best American films of all-time. BBC Culture has published a list of what it calls "The 100 Greatest American Films", as selected by 62 international film critics in order to "get a global perspective on American film." As BBC Culture notes, the critics polled represent a combination of broadcasters, book authors and reviewers at various newspapers and magazines across the world. As for what makes an American filmc "Any movie that received funding from a U.S. source," BBC Culture's publication states, which is to say the terminology was quite loose, but the list contains a majority of the staples you'd expect to see. Citizen Kane -- what elsec -- comes in at #1, and in typical fashion The Godfather follows at #2. Vertigo, which in 2012 topped Sight & Sound's list of the greatest films of all-time, comes in at #3 on BBC Culture's list.
- 7/21/2015
- by Jordan Benesh
- Rope of Silicon
Every now and then a major publication or news organisation comes up with a top fifty or one hundred films of all time list - a list which always stirs up debate, discussion and often interesting arguments about the justifications of the list's inclusions, ordering and notable exclusions.
Today it's the turn of BBC Culture who consulted sixty-two international film critics including print reviews, bloggers, broadcasters and film academics to come up with what they consider the one-hundred greatest American films of all time. To qualify, the film had to be made by a U.S. studio or mostly funded by American money.
Usually when a list of this type is done it is by institutes or publications within the United States asking American critics their favourites. This time it's non-American critics born outside the culture what they think are the best representations of that culture. Specifically they were asked...
Today it's the turn of BBC Culture who consulted sixty-two international film critics including print reviews, bloggers, broadcasters and film academics to come up with what they consider the one-hundred greatest American films of all time. To qualify, the film had to be made by a U.S. studio or mostly funded by American money.
Usually when a list of this type is done it is by institutes or publications within the United States asking American critics their favourites. This time it's non-American critics born outside the culture what they think are the best representations of that culture. Specifically they were asked...
- 7/21/2015
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
The title invokes tragedies already over and done: "From Mayerling to Sarajevo," a range of time spanning from the suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria in Mayerling, a death that eventually made Archduke Franz Ferdinand the next heir to the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, to the assassination of the Archduke in the Bosnian capital, precipitating the First World War.The title invokes a range of cities spanning countries. The director of From Mayerling to Sarajevo, a 1940 picture revived in a new print by The Film Desk and opening at New York’s Film Forum on March 27, is Max Ophüls, himself a roving vagabond auteur, born in Germany and making films not only there but in the Netherlands, Italy, Hollywood, and France, where this film was made on the precipice of the Second World War and the beginning of a new kind of German-speaking empire.The films of Max Ophüls survive beautiful and aphoristic,...
- 3/26/2015
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
Marc Allégret: From André Gide lover to Simone Simon mentor (photo: Marc Allégret) (See previous post: "Simone Simon Remembered: Sex Kitten and Femme Fatale.") Simone Simon became a film star following the international critical and financial success of the 1934 romantic drama Lac aux Dames, directed by her self-appointed mentor – and alleged lover – Marc Allégret.[1] The son of an evangelical missionary, Marc Allégret (born on December 22, 1900, in Basel, Switzerland) was to have become a lawyer. At age 16, his life took a different path as a result of his romantic involvement – and elopement to London – with his mentor and later "adoptive uncle" André Gide (1947 Nobel Prize winner in Literature), more than 30 years his senior and married to Madeleine Rondeaux for more than two decades. In various forms – including a threesome with painter Théo Van Rysselberghe's daughter Elisabeth – the Allégret-Gide relationship remained steady until the late '20s and their trip to...
- 2/28/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Jourdan was the last of the dashing Continental lovers – sophisticated, rich and elegantly handsome – who delighted movie audiences during Hollywood’s golden age. Like Jourdan, they were usually French, personified by Charles Boyer and Maurice Chevalier. In his most famous screen role, the 1958 MGM musical “Gigi,” he was the nephew of Chevalier, an elderly roué. In the film Jourdan was scheduled to live the same life of rich food, elegant vacations and serial mistresses as his uncle until he fell in love with Gigi (Leslie Caron) who was being groomed to become a courtesan. The movie was a fairy tale that Jourdan carried with an easy charm. After Jourdan had played a dozen or more of such roles – as a playboy in Max Ophul’s classic “Letter From an Unknown Woman” (1948) who cannot remember a woman who was the mother of his child; as one of “Madame Bovary’s” lovers...
- 2/17/2015
- by Aljean Harmetz
- Thompson on Hollywood
French actor Louis Jourdan, who enjoyed a long and varied career playing debonair men and a James Bond villain, has died. He was 93.
Jourdan began acting in his native France in the late 1930s, though World War II put many of his early productions in jeopardy. He was invited to be part of his first American film in 1946, when legendary Hollywood producer David O. Selznick cast him in Alfred Hitchcock's 1947 flick "The Paradine Case," alongside his wife, the late Berthe Frederique "Quique" Jourdan.
Louis Jourdan continued to find success in Hollywood throughout the 1940s and '50s in movies such as "Letter From An Unknown Woman," "Three Coins In The Fountain," and two Vincente Minelli features: "Madame Bovary" and "Gigi," the latter of which won nine Oscars including Best Pitcure. He worked steadily over the next few decades, frequently appearing in TV movies and series guest-starring roles, before landing...
Jourdan began acting in his native France in the late 1930s, though World War II put many of his early productions in jeopardy. He was invited to be part of his first American film in 1946, when legendary Hollywood producer David O. Selznick cast him in Alfred Hitchcock's 1947 flick "The Paradine Case," alongside his wife, the late Berthe Frederique "Quique" Jourdan.
Louis Jourdan continued to find success in Hollywood throughout the 1940s and '50s in movies such as "Letter From An Unknown Woman," "Three Coins In The Fountain," and two Vincente Minelli features: "Madame Bovary" and "Gigi," the latter of which won nine Oscars including Best Pitcure. He worked steadily over the next few decades, frequently appearing in TV movies and series guest-starring roles, before landing...
- 2/16/2015
- by Katie Roberts
- Moviefone
10. Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
Directed by: Max Ophuls
To be honest, the relationship at the center of “Letter from an Unknown Woman” barely even exists. It’s more of a longing from one side than the other. But the ways Ophuls structures the film qualifies it for this list. For the run of the story, we hear a voiceover, explaining the moments in these two characters’ lives. Lisa (Joan Fontaine) is a teenager who becomes obsessed with a pianist who lives in her building named Stefan (Louis Jordan). She only meets him once, but maintains her love for him. After her mother announces they will be moving, Lisa runs away, but sees Stefan with another woman. Lisa becomes a respectable woman and is proposed to by a young, family-focused military officer, whom she turns down, still in love with Stefan, a man she has barely met. Years later, she...
Directed by: Max Ophuls
To be honest, the relationship at the center of “Letter from an Unknown Woman” barely even exists. It’s more of a longing from one side than the other. But the ways Ophuls structures the film qualifies it for this list. For the run of the story, we hear a voiceover, explaining the moments in these two characters’ lives. Lisa (Joan Fontaine) is a teenager who becomes obsessed with a pianist who lives in her building named Stefan (Louis Jordan). She only meets him once, but maintains her love for him. After her mother announces they will be moving, Lisa runs away, but sees Stefan with another woman. Lisa becomes a respectable woman and is proposed to by a young, family-focused military officer, whom she turns down, still in love with Stefan, a man she has barely met. Years later, she...
- 12/2/2014
- by Joshua Gaul
- SoundOnSight
First Best Actor Oscar winner Emil Jannings and first Best Actress Oscar winner Janet Gaynor on TCM (photo: Emil Jannings in 'The Last Command') First Best Actor Academy Award winner Emil Jannings in The Last Command, first Best Actress Academy Award winner Janet Gaynor in Sunrise, and sisters Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge are a few of the silent era performers featured this evening on Turner Classic Movies, as TCM continues with its Silent Monday presentations. Starting at 5 p.m. Pt / 8 p.m. Et on November 17, 2014, get ready to check out several of the biggest movie stars of the 1920s. Following the Jean Negulesco-directed 1943 musical short Hit Parade of the Gay Nineties -- believe me, even the most rabid anti-gay bigot will be able to enjoy this one -- TCM will be showing Josef von Sternberg's The Last Command (1928) one of the two movies that earned...
- 11/18/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
To mark the release of A Promise on 4th August, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on DVD.
Set in Germany at the outbreak of World War I, A Promise centres on Charlotte Hoffmeister (Rebecca Hall) a married woman who falls in love with Friedrich Zeitz (Richard Madden), a protégé of her husband Karl Hoffmeister (Alan Rickman).
Bound by duty and divided by the impending war, the young lovers pledge their devotion to each other in spite of what their future holds.
A passionate and romantic drama about forbidden love, A Promise marks the English language debut of acclaimed French director, Patrice Leconte and is based on the classic novel ‘Journey into the Past’ by Austrian author Stefan Zwieg (famed for the film adaptations of Letter From An Unknown Woman and The Grand Budapest Hotel).
Please note: This competition is open to UK residents only
a Rafflecopter giveaway...
Set in Germany at the outbreak of World War I, A Promise centres on Charlotte Hoffmeister (Rebecca Hall) a married woman who falls in love with Friedrich Zeitz (Richard Madden), a protégé of her husband Karl Hoffmeister (Alan Rickman).
Bound by duty and divided by the impending war, the young lovers pledge their devotion to each other in spite of what their future holds.
A passionate and romantic drama about forbidden love, A Promise marks the English language debut of acclaimed French director, Patrice Leconte and is based on the classic novel ‘Journey into the Past’ by Austrian author Stefan Zwieg (famed for the film adaptations of Letter From An Unknown Woman and The Grand Budapest Hotel).
Please note: This competition is open to UK residents only
a Rafflecopter giveaway...
- 8/4/2014
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
I went to a recent screening of “Letter From an Unknown Woman” at Moma with a friend and fellow Max Ophuls devotee. As always, I was delighted and swept away by Ophuls’ complex love stories and equally complex camera moves. After the film, we discussed what we believed to be a fear, among many (not all) contemporary American directors, of moving the camera in favor of conventional coverage of a scene (Wide shot, Medium shot, Close Up, Close Up and figuring out the pacing in the edit). Of the film elements filed under cinematography, I believe camera movement is the strongest indicator of my director’s voice. Certainly lighting plays an important factor in...
- 2/11/2014
- by Cybel Martin
- ShadowAndAct
Wes Anderson's new film adapts the spirit of Stefan Zweig into a Ruritanian picaresque stuffed full of bizarre character studies
Whatever the patchiness of the rest of its lineup, the Berlin film festival tends to start off with a bang, and this year is no exception: the world premiere of the new film from Wes Anderson, that master of archly sculpted dialogue and meticulous, retrofitted design. The arrival of The Grand Budapest Hotel is particularly appropriate, for this is the moment in the Anderson oeuvre when he turns to consider all things Mitteleuropäische – refracted, as a closing credit tells us, through the work of the prolific Austrian writer Stefan Zweig.
Zweig specialised in novellas – Letter from an Unknown Woman, Fear, The Royal Game – normally designed to illuminate some plangent melodrama in interwar Vienna. Without being a direct adaptation of anything specific, The Grand Budapest Hotel distils many of the story's elements.
Whatever the patchiness of the rest of its lineup, the Berlin film festival tends to start off with a bang, and this year is no exception: the world premiere of the new film from Wes Anderson, that master of archly sculpted dialogue and meticulous, retrofitted design. The arrival of The Grand Budapest Hotel is particularly appropriate, for this is the moment in the Anderson oeuvre when he turns to consider all things Mitteleuropäische – refracted, as a closing credit tells us, through the work of the prolific Austrian writer Stefan Zweig.
Zweig specialised in novellas – Letter from an Unknown Woman, Fear, The Royal Game – normally designed to illuminate some plangent melodrama in interwar Vienna. Without being a direct adaptation of anything specific, The Grand Budapest Hotel distils many of the story's elements.
- 2/7/2014
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
She had a long and fruitful life, and sadly Joan Fontaine died on Sunday (December 15) at age 96 in her Carmel, California home.
The “Rebecca” actress was born to British parents in Tokyo, Japan on October 22nd, 1917 and moved to California in 1919 with her sister, actress Olivia de Havilland.
Funny enough, Joan once joked about her now-97-year-old sister- "I married first, won the Oscar before Olivia did, and if I die first, she’ll undoubtedly be livid because I beat her to it!”
In addition to her Hitchcock flick, Fontaine also starred in “Letter From an Unknown Woman,” “The Constant Nymph,” “Jane Eyre,” and “Ivy.”...
The “Rebecca” actress was born to British parents in Tokyo, Japan on October 22nd, 1917 and moved to California in 1919 with her sister, actress Olivia de Havilland.
Funny enough, Joan once joked about her now-97-year-old sister- "I married first, won the Oscar before Olivia did, and if I die first, she’ll undoubtedly be livid because I beat her to it!”
In addition to her Hitchcock flick, Fontaine also starred in “Letter From an Unknown Woman,” “The Constant Nymph,” “Jane Eyre,” and “Ivy.”...
- 12/16/2013
- GossipCenter
Oscar-winning actor who played threatened heroines for Alfred Hitchcock in Rebecca and Suspicion
It was hard to cast the lead in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1939. The female fans of the bestseller were very protective of the naive woman whom the widower Max de Winter marries and transports to his ancestral home of Manderley. None of the contenders – including Vivien Leigh, Anne Baxter and Loretta Young – felt right for the second Mrs de Winter, who was every lending-library reader's dream self.
To play opposite Laurence Olivier in the film, the producer David O Selznick suggested instead a 21-year-old actor with whom he was smitten: Joan Fontaine. The prolonged casting process made Fontaine anxious. Vulnerability was central to the part, and you can see that vulnerability, that inability to trust her own judgment, in every frame of the film. The performance brought Fontaine, who has died...
It was hard to cast the lead in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1939. The female fans of the bestseller were very protective of the naive woman whom the widower Max de Winter marries and transports to his ancestral home of Manderley. None of the contenders – including Vivien Leigh, Anne Baxter and Loretta Young – felt right for the second Mrs de Winter, who was every lending-library reader's dream self.
To play opposite Laurence Olivier in the film, the producer David O Selznick suggested instead a 21-year-old actor with whom he was smitten: Joan Fontaine. The prolonged casting process made Fontaine anxious. Vulnerability was central to the part, and you can see that vulnerability, that inability to trust her own judgment, in every frame of the film. The performance brought Fontaine, who has died...
- 12/16/2013
- by Veronica Horwell
- The Guardian - Film News
I was already in love with movies before someone showed me Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca at the tender age of nineteen, but something about it opened up a whole new world of cinema to me. You’d think it was the film’s acclaimed director or the mastery with which he brought Daphne Du Maurier’s gothic novel to the screen, but no, I can’t claim anything as respectable as that. Instead, it was the smiling woman pictured above who helped ease my way into black & white cinema. Joan Fontaine earned an Academy Award nomination, the first of three, for her performance as the second Mrs. de Winter, and she went on to win the Best Actress Oscar for her very next film, Hitchcock’s Suspicion. (She’s the only actor, male or female, to have ever won an Academy Award for one of his films.) I watched both in rapid succession before devouring several more...
- 12/16/2013
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
It has been a very sad weekend, as two of cinema's most revered talents have passed away. On Saturday, it was Peter O'Toole, and just a day later, Joan Fontaine has left us at the age of 96. While her big screen career was relatively brief—her last theatrical role was in the 1966 film "The Witches"—her impact was undeniable. In the span of three years, she was nominated for an Oscar three times, winning for Best Actress in Alfred Hitchcock's classic "Suspicion" (she was nominated in the same category for "Rebecca" in 1940 and "The Constant Nymph" in 1943). And in general, the 1940s found her doing some of her most memorable work including roles in Robert Stevenson's "Jane Eyre" opposite Orson Welles, Max Ophuls' "Letter From An Unknown Woman" and "Ivy." By the '60s, Fontaine had begun working more steadily in television and on stage, where she...
- 12/16/2013
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Joan Fontaine
The iconic actress Joan Fontaine has died at the age of 95. Star of Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca, she went on to win an Oscar for her work in Suspicion, setting the standard for the director's many cool blondes. She also gave the screen a memorable Jane Eyre and appeared in the likes of Gunga Din and Letter From An Unknown Woman.
The sister of Olivia de Havilland, Fontaine began her career on the stage but was quickly signed by Rko and groomed for stardom, starring alongside Katharine Hepburn in Quality Street. Alongside her film career, she worked in television and became a successful radio star. She retired in 1994 to spend more time with the dogs she adored.
Fontaine died peacefully at her home in Carmel-by-the-sea, California. She is survived by a daughter from her second marriage, Deborah, and by an adopted daughter, Martita, from whom she had become estranged.
The iconic actress Joan Fontaine has died at the age of 95. Star of Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca, she went on to win an Oscar for her work in Suspicion, setting the standard for the director's many cool blondes. She also gave the screen a memorable Jane Eyre and appeared in the likes of Gunga Din and Letter From An Unknown Woman.
The sister of Olivia de Havilland, Fontaine began her career on the stage but was quickly signed by Rko and groomed for stardom, starring alongside Katharine Hepburn in Quality Street. Alongside her film career, she worked in television and became a successful radio star. She retired in 1994 to spend more time with the dogs she adored.
Fontaine died peacefully at her home in Carmel-by-the-sea, California. She is survived by a daughter from her second marriage, Deborah, and by an adopted daughter, Martita, from whom she had become estranged.
- 12/16/2013
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Joan Fontaine, the legendary Oscar-winning actress, died on Sunday at her home in Carmel, Calif. She was 96.
Joan Fontaine Dies
Fontaine rose to fame during Hollywood’s Golden Era in the 1930s and ‘40s, starting off in supporting roles before landing the lead in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca. The part earned the actress her first Academy Award nod. Her second time teaming up with Hitchcock, for 1941 film Suspicion in which she starred opposite Cary Grant, saw her take home the statuette for best actress in a leading role.
Following the pair of Hitchcock films, Fontaine’s career maintained its steam with The Constant Nymph, earning her third Oscar nomination. The actress went on to receive praise for her turns in the titular role in Jane Eyre (1944), Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), September Affair (1950), Ivanhoe (1952) and Island in the Sun (1957).
Throughout the ‘60s, Fontaine made a number of TV appearances and...
Joan Fontaine Dies
Fontaine rose to fame during Hollywood’s Golden Era in the 1930s and ‘40s, starting off in supporting roles before landing the lead in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca. The part earned the actress her first Academy Award nod. Her second time teaming up with Hitchcock, for 1941 film Suspicion in which she starred opposite Cary Grant, saw her take home the statuette for best actress in a leading role.
Following the pair of Hitchcock films, Fontaine’s career maintained its steam with The Constant Nymph, earning her third Oscar nomination. The actress went on to receive praise for her turns in the titular role in Jane Eyre (1944), Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), September Affair (1950), Ivanhoe (1952) and Island in the Sun (1957).
Throughout the ‘60s, Fontaine made a number of TV appearances and...
- 12/16/2013
- Uinterview
Oscar-winning actress Joan Fontaine has died, per the AP and multiple news reports. She was 97. Born Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland to British parents in Japan, Fontaine began her film career under contract with Rko in films like The Man Who Found Himself (1937), her official onscreen “introduction,” A Damsel in Distress (1937) opposite Fred Astaire, and George Cukor’s The Women (1939). A year after leaving Rko, Fontaine starred in the gothic thriller Rebecca as a woman haunted by her new husband’s (Laurence Olivier) dead wife. The film, Alfred Hitchcock‘s American debut, was nominated for 11 Oscars and won two including Best Picture. Fontaine earned her first Best Actress nod and reteamed with Hitch the following year for another domestic thriller, Suspicion, which won her the Academy Award over sister Olivia de Havilland, who was herself nominated for Hold Back The Dawn. Fontaine’s third Best Actress nomination was awarded for 1943′s The Constant Nymph.
- 12/16/2013
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
Suspicion star Joan Fontaine has died, aged 96.
The actress's assistant confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Fontaine passed away at her Carmel, CA home of natural causes.
Fontaine is best known for her work with the legendary director Alfred Hitchcock in the films Suspicion and Rebecca.
She won a Best Actress Oscar in 1942 for her performance in Suspicion as a woman who falls under the spell of a conman.
Fontaine was competing in the Best Actress race that year against her sister Olivia de Havilland, with whom she had a well-documented rivalry.
The star had other memorable roles in The Constant Nymph, Gunga Din and Letter from an Unknown Woman.
Her later career saw Fontaine work extensively in television in Wagon Train and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
Fontaine also earned a Daytime Emmy Award nomination in 1980 for playing Paige Williams in the soap opera Ryan's Hope.
She was married four times throughout her life,...
The actress's assistant confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Fontaine passed away at her Carmel, CA home of natural causes.
Fontaine is best known for her work with the legendary director Alfred Hitchcock in the films Suspicion and Rebecca.
She won a Best Actress Oscar in 1942 for her performance in Suspicion as a woman who falls under the spell of a conman.
Fontaine was competing in the Best Actress race that year against her sister Olivia de Havilland, with whom she had a well-documented rivalry.
The star had other memorable roles in The Constant Nymph, Gunga Din and Letter from an Unknown Woman.
Her later career saw Fontaine work extensively in television in Wagon Train and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
Fontaine also earned a Daytime Emmy Award nomination in 1980 for playing Paige Williams in the soap opera Ryan's Hope.
She was married four times throughout her life,...
- 12/16/2013
- Digital Spy
Suspicion star Joan Fontaine has died, aged 96.
The actress's assistant confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Fontaine passed away at her Carmel, CA home of natural causes.
Fontaine is best known for her work with the legendary director Alfred Hitchcock in the films Suspicion and Rebecca.
She won a Best Actress Oscar in 1942 for her performance in Suspicion as a woman who falls under the spell of conman.
Fontaine was competing in the Best Actress race that year against her sister Olivia de Havilland, with whom she had a well-documented rivalry.
The star had other memorable roles in The Constant Nymph, Gunga Din and Letter from an Unknown Woman.
Her later career saw Fontaine work extensively in television in Wagon Train and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
Fontaine also earned a Daytime Emmy Award nomination in 1980 for playing Paige Williams in the soap opera Ryan's Hope.
She was married four times throughout her life,...
The actress's assistant confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Fontaine passed away at her Carmel, CA home of natural causes.
Fontaine is best known for her work with the legendary director Alfred Hitchcock in the films Suspicion and Rebecca.
She won a Best Actress Oscar in 1942 for her performance in Suspicion as a woman who falls under the spell of conman.
Fontaine was competing in the Best Actress race that year against her sister Olivia de Havilland, with whom she had a well-documented rivalry.
The star had other memorable roles in The Constant Nymph, Gunga Din and Letter from an Unknown Woman.
Her later career saw Fontaine work extensively in television in Wagon Train and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
Fontaine also earned a Daytime Emmy Award nomination in 1980 for playing Paige Williams in the soap opera Ryan's Hope.
She was married four times throughout her life,...
- 12/16/2013
- Digital Spy
Joan Fontaine, the Oscar-winning actress who was one of the last remaining links to Hollywood’s golden age of the 1930s and ’40s, has died at age 96, her assistant confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.
In her most famous films — Rebecca, for which she was Oscar-nominated, and Suspicion, for which she won — Fontaine came across as appealingly passive-aggressive. She could seem radiantly shy, believably insecure, gazing into the middle distance with a hesitancy that drew you immediately to her side. Yet she fashioned a movie career out of willpower and, quite possibly, large reservoirs of spite.
The younger sister of Olivia De Havilland,...
In her most famous films — Rebecca, for which she was Oscar-nominated, and Suspicion, for which she won — Fontaine came across as appealingly passive-aggressive. She could seem radiantly shy, believably insecure, gazing into the middle distance with a hesitancy that drew you immediately to her side. Yet she fashioned a movie career out of willpower and, quite possibly, large reservoirs of spite.
The younger sister of Olivia De Havilland,...
- 12/16/2013
- by EW staff
- EW - Inside Movies
Legendary actress Joan Fontaine has died. She was 96. No details are immediately available.
Born in Japan to British parents in 1917, she and her sister Olivia de Havilland moved to California as toddlers and began working for Rko Pictures by 1935. Early roles include the likes of "Quality Street" and "The Women," "Gunga Din," "The Man Who Found Himself," and "Damsel in Distress".
Fontaine achieved stardom in the early 1940s when she scored an Oscar nomination for Alfred Hitchcock's Best Picture winner "Rebecca" (underrated and one of my personal favorite Hitchcocks).
The following year she went on to win the Oscar for "Suspicion," her second team-up with Hitchcock and the only actress to ever win for a Hitchcock film. Fontaine beat her sister that year at the Oscars, and a rejected attempt to congratulate her added to an already frictional relationship - the pair having not spoken since the 1970s. De Havilland currently lives in Paris.
Born in Japan to British parents in 1917, she and her sister Olivia de Havilland moved to California as toddlers and began working for Rko Pictures by 1935. Early roles include the likes of "Quality Street" and "The Women," "Gunga Din," "The Man Who Found Himself," and "Damsel in Distress".
Fontaine achieved stardom in the early 1940s when she scored an Oscar nomination for Alfred Hitchcock's Best Picture winner "Rebecca" (underrated and one of my personal favorite Hitchcocks).
The following year she went on to win the Oscar for "Suspicion," her second team-up with Hitchcock and the only actress to ever win for a Hitchcock film. Fontaine beat her sister that year at the Oscars, and a rejected attempt to congratulate her added to an already frictional relationship - the pair having not spoken since the 1970s. De Havilland currently lives in Paris.
- 12/16/2013
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
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